About Today’s Title

For the title of this book review I’m reaching all the way back to 1967 for a song that features the state of Massachusetts. All twelve of the stories in today’s book take place in that state, and its history and people are a deep well that the author has drawn from to illuminate these stories. The song, of course, is Massachusetts by the Bee Gees.

The late 60s and early 70s were the Bee Gees pop era, and this song has a country-pop feel to it. A love ballad - for a girlfriend left behind and for the singer’s home state, but on a deeper level it was the Bee Gees attempt to produce an antidote to all of the hippie-themed pop tunes of that year. 1967, after all, was the year of the “Summer of Love”. Listen closely to the song you’ll hear that the singer had started to head to San Francisco to join the hippies but became homesick and turned back. The song peaked at #11 on the Billboard chart. You hear a live performance for an Australian audience in in 1989 on this YouTube video.

On a side note, the book has spawned a movie, which features a number of folk tunes. I haven’t yet seen the movie and have not had an opportunity to hear any of those tunes for this review.

Since its publication last summer this collection of short stories has racked up glowing reviews, and now a movie has been made based on one of the stories. I've not seen the movie, just ads for it, but those ads are what led me to buy a copy of the movie tie-in edition of the book.

Once I started to read the stories I found the book hard to put down. I think I read close to half the book in one sitting. But I paced myself after that and tried to read a story at a time.

I really liked this book. The stories are well paced, each a different length - some short, some long, but each one packed with emotional undertones. These stories get to you.

It helps if you have some familiarity with the geography and history of Massachusetts, but it really isn’t a necessity. The stories in the middle of the book - about an accident at a lumber camp, and a religious community that splinters off from the early Massachusetts settlements, are best enjoyed, I think, with some understanding of the history of the state. But even these stories contain enough of an emotional thread to get you, regardless.

I don’t want to recreate all the other positive reviews of the book, and there are a lot of them out there - just check goodreads, or Amazon and you’ll see what I mean. So, I’ll just reiterate - I really liked this book, and I think you will too. It was a nice read for an evening (or two) by the fire with a good cup of cocoa.

RATING: Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

RATING COMMENTS: The interlinked stories are well paced and compelling. Each individual story packs an emotional punch that builds through the book.

WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I purchased my ebook copy through the Kobo store.